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Justice Department opposes block on contraceptive mandate

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration Friday called on Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to lift her order temporarily blocking a part of the president’s signature health-care law that requires some religious-affiliated organizations to cover forms of contraception in their health-care plans.

The Justice Department said in court papers filed Friday that the challenge to the contraceptive requirement, filed by the Catholic nuns of the Little Sisters of the Poor for the Aged, did not impose a “substantial burden” and the Denver-based nuns “fail to satisfy the demanding standard for the extraordinary and rarely granted relief they seek.”

Sotomayor’s ruling on Tuesday came at the request of the Little Sisters, but more than 90 legal challenges have been filed over the contraceptive requirement.

The justice’s decision to delay the contraceptive portion of the law was joined by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which also issued an emergency stay for Catholic-affiliated groups challenging the contraceptive provision.

The Justice Department disagreed in its filing Friday, arguing that the nuns’ group was already eligible for exemption under the Affordable Care Act by certifying that it had religious objections to such coverage and that blocking enforcement was unnecessary.

“They need only self-certify that they are non-profit organization that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services, and then provide a copy of their self-certification to the third-party administrator of their self-insured group health plan,” argued Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. in the government’s filing.

Under the Obama administration accommodation, the insurers or third-party administrators of religious-affiliated groups would have to provide contraceptives to the organization’s employees at no charge.

But the Obama administration’s fix was still problematic for organizations like the Little Sisters, whose third-party administrator is the Christian Brothers Employee Benefits Trust – also a religious organization.

Mark Rienzi, lead counsel for the Little Sisters of the Poor, said Friday that the federal government, in its latest position “has started the new year the same way that it ended the old one: trying to bully nuns into violating their religious beliefs.”

“The government demands that the Little Sisters of the Poor sign a permission slip for abortion drugs and contraceptives or pay millions in fines,” Rienzi said. “The Sisters believe that doing that violates their faith, and that they shouldn’t be forced to divert funds from the elderly poor they serve to the IRS.”

Earlier this week, following Sotomayor issuing her order, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called on President Obama to temporarily exempt religious institutions from fines if their insurance plans exclude sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville noted in a letter to Obama that the White House has offered exemptions to various individuals and groups, including the decision to delay fines for businesses with 50 or more employees who drop or do not offer health insurance at all in 2014. The fines of $2,000 a year per employee go into effect in 2015.

“I understand that legal issues in these cases will ultimately be settled by the Supreme Court,” he added. “In the meantime, however, many religious employers have not obtained the temporary relief they need in time to avoid being subjected to the HHS (Health and Human Services) mandate beginning January 1. I urge you, therefore, to consider offering temporary relief from this mandate, as you have for so many other individuals and groups facing other requirements under the ACA.”

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